Historic Cities · Italy
Perugia through the ages
Perugia is the capital city of Umbria and the province of Perugia in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about 164 km (102 mi) north of Rome and 148 km (92 mi) southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. With a population of 162,384, it is the 23rd-largest city in Italy.
Perugia in 1500
Perugino's Perugia
Perugia in 1500 sits at the height of its Umbrian Renaissance: guilds, bankers and the Baglioni household shape a crowded hilltop of stone palaces and narrow alleys. The walk moves from the plains below, up aqueduct-lined streets and stairways, across the Corso and the Piazza with the Fontana Maggiore, and finishes on a high terrace above the city roofs.
A compact medieval acropolis of ochre and travertine, Perugia rises in terraces of red-tiled roofs, crenellated palaces and narrow alleys breaking to small piazze. Campanili and small family towers pierce the skyline; loggias, carved stone benches and the pale curve of an ancient aqueduct mark the slopes. The dominant civic face is the Palazzo dei Priori, its griffin plaques and Pisano fountain anchoring the busy Piazza and the cathedral steps.
The route: 16 streets, squares and views
Pian di Massiano View → Porta San Pietro → San Pietro Precinct → Via dell'Acquedotto → Porta Sole Stairs → Porta Sole → Il Corso → Arco Etrusco → Piazza IV Novembre → Fontana Maggiore → …
Step inside, 7 interiors
San Pietro Choir Stalls · Bankers' Counting Chamber · Council Hall of the Priors · Chapel of the Virgin's Ring · Sala del Cambio · Notaries' Painted Vault · Baglioni Staircase
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Perugia.
From the archive
Perugia on paper: the old town as it was mapped.
A period plan or bird's-eye view of the old town, drawn between 1500 and 1850 — the streets this page's reconstructions walk. Public domain, with its source named.
Bird's-eye view of Perugia (Pervsia Gratv· Mvsis in Tvscia Domicilium), from Braun & Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum
Shows Perugia’s fortified walls and gates, winding streets and blocks, prominent church towers and the Rocca fortress amid surrounding hills.
1594 · Georg Braun · Wikimedia Commons
Public domain (plate dated 1594)
Castles of Perugia
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